Fitness & Exercise

Dynamic Leg Superset

Here is a great Superset for you to try for the lower body muscle and also it’s a great cardio workout too. Aim to complete 15 repetitions on the Jump Squat followed 15 Forward Stepping Lunges on each leg you can then add a short recovery before repeating. You can do this as a stand alone workout for legs or add it on to your currently leg workout for some variation.

**BE SURE TO WARM UP WITH A LIGHT JOG OR CYCLE ON THE BIKE BEFORE TRYING THESE EXERCISES.

Example:

Jump Squat x 15

R leg FWD Stepping Lunges

L leg FWD Stepping Lunges

Rest 30 – 60 seconds

Repeat 3 – 4 times

 JUMP SQUAT

When completing the jump squat, be sure to land through the heels and also use the glute muscles by squeezing your buttocks on the way up in the movement. Keep your core braced throughout by narrow the waist & b

FORWARD STEPPING LUNGE

When completing the lunge aim to keep the load in your front heel when landing ands push back using front leg and the glute muscles to get back to the start position. Keep the torso upright and the core muscles braced.

Let us know how you get on with it….

G & N

Partner Exercises

Here are few partner assisted exercises to give a try over the festive period. If you are unable to get to the gym and fancy doing a few exercises with family members then give these a go!

BENT OVER ROW

 Start with feet slightly wider than hips, cross over and wrist and hold your partners opposite hand to yours. Ensure you maintain a neutral curve in you lower back & keep your core muscles braced (draw naval towards spine) to protect you lower back area.

Then pull your partners body weight towards you squeezing your shoulder blades together, aim to keep your neck relaxed and keep the movement controlled. 3 seconds in each direction of the movement. Depending your partners body weight aim for 10 – 20 repetitions / 2-3 sets.

BACK TO BACK SQUATS

Start standing upright back to back with your partner, then slowly walk your feet out at the same time until you have your balance. Then at the same time move down slowly into a squat position (ankle/knee/hip at 90 degree angle) > then returning back up to the start an upright position with your weight resting into partner. Throughout the move keep your core muscles engaged to protect your lower back & keep your balance.

As work through the movement ensure your heels are push down to protect your knees and on the way up to the top of the squat squeeze the buttocks together to engage the glute muscles. Aim to complete 15 – 20 repetitions / 2-3 sets.

LYING CHEST PRESS

Start in supine position (face up) – interlock hands with your partner, who should be knelling/crouching near you head. You arms should start at a 90 degree angle (back of your arm on the floor) > then push your arms up to the ceiling bringing our hands closer together at the top. Ensure you communicate with you partner so the correct amount of tension is applied and no injuries occur.

Aim to keep the movement slow and controlled 3 seconds in each direction. Complete 12 – 20 repetitions / 2-3 sets

Good Luck with the moves and comment back with how you get on??

G & N

You see it all over the press, in glossy magazines on the television – how to get those amazing, fast results ”bigger muscle” ”lose 4 stone in 4 weeks” ”get a flat stomach fast” the list goes on.

Well a great thing to remember is – if sounds to good to be true, it is!!

The following list will cover the TOP 3 Myths around the world of health & fitness.

1) Doing abdominal crunches or sit ups will give you a flat stomach!

You can not spot reduce fat anywhere on the body!! The is no doubt that doing abdominal exercises will condition the rectus abdominis muscle (main abdominal muscles) & oblique muscles (abdominal muscles located at the side of trunk). But conditioning these muscles will not assist you in burning off any layer of fat that is present over the top of these muscles. Burning off any fat in this area and flattening the stomach can only be achieved by increasing your metabolism and keeping your nutrition clean. Starting looking at your entire lifestyle.

2) Eating less food will make me lose weight…..

There is absolutley no doubt that a massive reduction in calories may lead to rapid weight loss but the weight lost may not be helping you in the long run. A large reduction in calories will lead to the body using up lean, metablicly active tissue as energy instead of stored fat resulting in a slower metabolsim and in most cases a less attractive body shape. Making a small reduction in calories (approx 500 a day) and increasing your resistence training (Body Weight Exercises/Circuit Training/Body Pump) will lead to a slower, but more permenent change in your body fat & weight. Aim to lose 1-2lbs of weight lose a week.

3) Lifting weights will make me bulking and gain weight….

Lifting weights (resistence training) is the quickest way to reduce body fat, as more lean muscle will speed up the metabolism!! 1 lb of lean muslce will burn up to 50 calories a day against 1lb of fat, which burns around 2 calories a day… which do you want more of??

It is true that the more lean muslce you have, possibly the more the scales may read – but best to ignore what the scales say and start looking at overall body shape and body fat levels to get a better picture of health. Resistence training will also benefit your posture & alignment.

The question I continually get asked is how do I do it faster?

Get fit, lose fat, get leaner, build muscle – we are unfortunately a very impatient generation always wanting a quick fix to lifestyle changes, fitness or even being rich a successful!!

It is time to start to look at your goals in a differently – 9 times out of 10 they are further away than you think they are and you need to look at the short term goals which lead you too the finish line and final goal.

Look at it like this:

For example; you where a size 10 - 8 years ago. Over the last 10 years your activity levels reduced and as a result your metabolism slower down also a factor of aging. Your eating habits got worse probably eating less, the wrong foods at the wrong time and slowly you size crept up to a 18.

8 years of changes lead to you going up 4 dress sizes and living a poor lifestyle. So then the realisation begins – you look in the mirror one day and think I want to be a size 10 again. When we set these goals it normal goes like this… ”I want to be a size 10 again by Christmas” (for example 6 months away).

How often do we think back over the last 8 years and realise that it took us this long to fall into a pattern of bad habits, slowing down our metabolism and gaining weight? Never!!

If it took you 8 years to fall into this pattern, how realistic is it that you can completely reverse it in one sixteenth of the time??

It take months, maybe even years to change & form new habits. Your body has to re-learn how to move, your hormones are a mess for months when you start a new lifestyle (exercise & nutrition), this will all effect your weight loss. It might take you 6 months just to rewire your body to function properly – before you even start losing weight or changing your body shape!!

When you decide to make a change bare these points in mind, you have to allow for your body to catch up with what your mind wants and remember that when you make changes you have to see these out forever – not just till Christmas

Wherever you go these days restaurants, supermarkets, convenience store there is no doubt something ‘low fat’ ‘healthy eating’ or ‘slimming’ food products. In most cases to make these products ‘low fat’ they reduce the fat content and increase the sugar content. Out of both fat and sugar, sugar has a more negative effect on the way and rate we store fat!

So surely if we eat a diet low in fat then we will have less fat on our bodies? Sounds simply….

Unfortunately this is not always the case, our bodies need fat from our diets to function and without it present in our diets we become less able to metabolise (burn off) any fat that we already have.

Important points to remember:

• Eat FAT! It’s important for the body to function – they are essential for the uptake of certain vitamins and also hormone production (linked to gaining/maintaining lean muscle – which speeds up your metabolism)
• Avoid ‘Low Fat’ food products – they are full of sugar. If the regular version of that product is bad for you to be almost sure that the ‘low fat’ version is just as bad or worse!
• Aim to keep the majority of the fats you eat from unsaturated fats
• Total fat in your diet should be around 30-35% of total calories, with no more than 10% from saturated fats
• Regardless of the type of fat, every gram has 9 grams
• Try to eat fats as they occur in nature as often as possible & avoid any processed fats

Dietary fat is split into 3 groups and these are listed below.

Saturated Fats

The bad fat should be strictly limited. Saturated fats are the major component of storage fat – the fat around your bottom, thighs and stomach.

Cut back on: Butter, Processed meat products – sausages, pork pies, Biscuits, Cakes, Cream, Full-fat cheese, Whole milk, Burgers and fries, Crisps.

Polyunsaturated Fats

Split into two groups, Omega6 and Omega3, these fats are essential to the formation of cells and normal functioning of the nervous system.

Rich sources are oil-rich fish – such as salmon, tuna, sardines and mackerel.

Monounsaturated Fats

These fats can help to lower total blood cholesterol and can help to prevent certain cancers and heart disease.

Rich sources of monounsaturated fatty acids include olive oil, rapeseed oil, nuts and peanut butter

Some of the best sources of ‘Good’ Fats are listed below

Healthy Fats

Almonds & Natural Almond Butter

Avocados

Coconut Oil

Egg Yolks

Flax Seeds

Flax Oil

Grapeseed Oil

Herring

Macadamia Nuts

Mackerel

Natural Peanut Butter (no oil added)

Olive Oil

Pecans

Pumpkin Seeds

Salmon

Sardines

Sunflower Seeds

Walnuts

Hi Everybody – decided to change up my training a little bit.

Up until last week I have been doing a lot of circuit based endurance training. Using TRX, Kettlebells and ViPR, also had a bit of a calorie restriction to drop some body fat before I presented at the IFS fitness convention in Blackpool.

So I planed a new weekly schedule to build a bit of lean muscle with focus on my arm shape/size – last year I had played around with some GVT (German volume training) which is basically – 1-2 exercises per body part completing – 10 sets of 10 reps of the same exercise with a short rest period between sets, 30 – 90 seconds depending on articles you read – to get the maximum results from the training the recommendation for weight to lift is 60% of your 1 rep max, for the particular exercise you are doing, so decided to try it out again.

 I have adapted to fit this around the classes I teach and designed a weekly schedule of training based around the original GVT. I have listed it below to share with you and once I have completed for roughly 8 weeks I will report back to you with results. I aim to to 4 weeks on fixed exercises – take a week off (holiday) and then complete 4 more weeks with the same splits but new exercises.

Schedule: 10 sets of 10 reps with 45 seconds rest.

Monday: Back & Biceps (high underhand grip row & assisted pull ups for back and bent over bicep row)

Tuesday: Teaching Body Pump, Body Combat & Spinning

Wednesday: Arms(TRX \suspension trainer) – Bicep Curls & Tricep O/H extensions. Also some a little kettlebell and ViPR full body conditioning.

Thursday: Legs & Shoulders (deadlifts & front squats for legs and upright rows for shoulders)

Friday: Chest & Triceps (standing decline press, on cable & incline dumbbell press for chest and assisted dips)

Saturday: teaching body pump & body combat

Sunday: Rest day or a run

Let me know what you think and I will report back with the results.

Gareth

Hey Everybody – We have another great exercise for February.

We hope you get time to try it out and give us your feedback on the move.

We are busy planning some new exercises for the rest of the year

G & N

Have you tried Pilates? Did you get a bit lost? decided it wasn’t for you?

Well Pilates is very much a habit and routine thing…….So if you need to improve posture or rid yourself on back pain, try again and use the following information to help you on the way!!

The Principles:

Relaxation: Take a few minutes before each session of Pilates to release unwanted tension from the body, either in the relaxation position or with some gentle preparation exercises/movements.

Concentration: Clear your mind, and focus on your body as you exercise. Concentrate on each and every movement itself, totally aware.

Alignment:  Correct alignment is vital for effectiveness of the exercises, primarily this comes from finding the neutral position of the spine. Always remember that a ‘Neutral’ position is ‘Neutral for you’.

Breathing: In Pilates we use lateral costal breathing, breathing wide and full through the ribs. Inhalation through the nose to prepare the body, exhalation through the mouth (pursed lips) on the greatest effort. Repeat inhalation as you recover/return to starting position of exercise.

Centring: This relates to our Pilates ‘CORE’ muscles. As you breathe out draw or zip up from the pelvic floor (the sling type muscles) and hollow in at the lower abdominal area, Transversus Abdominis (corset type muscles). Find a 30% contraction of these muscles (we need low levels of contraction for longer periods of time = endurance). Maintain this strong centre throughout your exercises – this will give you the best spinal stability.

Co-ordination: This means co – coordinating your alignment, breathing and centring with your movement as well as co-ordinating the left and right side of your body.

Flowing Movements: Control all your movements, lengthening away from a strong centre. Move without strain or stress, keeping the rhythm of the particular exercise you are doing.

Routine: Practise, practise, practise!  Your ability to complete an exercise with great form, will only improve through repetition of that exercise. Don’t forget you also need to practise alignment, breathing and centring (ABC of Pilates) to improve your overall awareness.

 Stamina: Or your endurance, fits together nicely with the above point, getting a routine and practise will build your endurance to complete certain exercises but more importantly enable you to have the endurance to maintain great posture in everyday life – all day long!

The Set up

• Neutral Alignment:

Whether you are side lying, prone, supine or on all fours it is essential that you are in your neutral spine. Aim to keep the head stacked correctly on top of your spine (back of the neck long) and relaxing the tops of your shoulders away from your ears, so the shoulder blades slide down your ribs cage and back – This will also activate the stabilising muscles in the shoulder girdle. Then focus on finding a natural curve in your lower spine, in most people this create a small gap between lower back and the floor in a supine position (lying down – face up) enough of gap to place a grape. Also with the knees bent and the feet flat on the floor aim for the feet to be parallel to each other and hip distance apart. There are a range of other position we use in Pilates and these with all be covered as you advance through many different exercises.

• Lateral Costal Breathing:  

The correct breathing takes time to master. Always breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth (through pursed lips). Feel your breath travel in to your rib cage almost like you are breathing into your arm pits, during the breathing cycle you should feel the chest rising and falling more than the belly. In Pilates we use the inhalation to prepare the body for movement and exhalation when contracting the Pilates core muscles and at the point of greatest effort of the exercise. 

• Centring:

Now for the Pilates ‘Core’ muscles mentioned earlier. These muscles are located in the pelvic girdle and the ones we mainly focus on are Pelvic Floor and Transversus Abdominis. Pelvic floor is located low down in the pelvis and is like a sling under the base of your pelvis, the Transversus Abdominis or TA is locate higher up around the lower abdominal area and acts like a corset around the lower torso.

When activating these muscles you are looking to master a level of around 30% of the maximum contraction possible (100%).

The pelvic floor muscles also inhibit the bladder so to activate create the sensation you are stopping yourself passing urine (drawing up from low down in the pelvis). The transverses abdominis muscles activate when we create a slightly hollowing or drawing in at the lower abdominal area.

Practise activating these muscles to their maximum, like 10 out of 10 or 100%, now try this at 50% or 5 out of 10.

Once you have mastered this find about 30% or a 3 out of 10, this is quite a light contraction.

This contraction will be your optimum and most effective in spinal stabilisation and your body can also, over time learn to activate these muscle groups subconsciously.

Remember that the contraction of your Pilates ‘Core’ muscles should be on your out breath and that it is an internal contraction, causing no external movement and no deviation from neutral spine.

What is your motivation?

If you are reading this post and you look at our website on a regular basis then you have a common interest with people I spend my life around. We all have a motivation for a health or fitness goal, but what is your motivation?

Setting a goal is easy to do making it realistic and measurable is where fitness professionals come into the picture, but the motivation to achieve this goal comes from the individual.

So what is you motivation? Do you want to look better, feel better or perform better? Do you want to live a longer healthy life? The key word is YOU – think about what you want.

Are you setting a goal because you feel you should, because you think the opposite sex will pay you more attention, because the WAG or sports person in the magazine you read has the perfect body! Maybe you feel you will be more successful in a professional environment if you look like you think you should? Maybe your working environment puts you under pressure to look a certain way? (I know a lot of fellow fitness professionals read our posts and understand the last statement) The fitness industry is very hard on your self confidence!! The idea that every fitness instructor or trainer should be 5% body fat with muscles poking out from everywhere! (In some ways I agree with this – but we don’t all have to be fitness models – but you should be more able, have more lean muscle and less body fat than the average person you train, but this is a different subject for another day…..)

So what motivates you? Take some time today to decide why you are setting yourself a goal? It should be centred around you – don’ t get me wrong some outside influence is needed but it should not be the main focus of your motivation. You need to find the real reason behind the goals you set, spend some time writing it down. Make a list and think about where you want to be later in life, how you would like to feel inside and out, how do you want to feel when you wake up in the morning – full of energy? when you go to bed – relaxed, care-free? have a positive vibe around you all day long? now take a moment to think – are these feeling more important then vanity based motivation?

Now let’s get this straight, there is nothing wrong with vanity based motivations, I spent my young life over weight and unhealthy and I struggle even now 12 years on to not focus on body shape motivations. Always believing that looking better was better – well I now know, deep down that feeling better is better!!

Looking better may spark that initial fire of thought to make changes, but how often do we stick to a goal that is centred around ”looking better”? Trust me the answer is – not very long. So when setting your next goal in life write down the real reasons you want it, the feelings you want to feel, the feeling motivations that are centred around you and not society and the media.  These are the kind of motivational factors which stick with you forever and it is something you will continue with for the rest of your life.

Remember this, if your find the ‘thing’ that motivates you 100% all the weight loss, muscle gain, looking better & performance based goals with follow right behind for a person who feels the way they want to!!

So what is the magic answer? – this is a question I get asked over and over again.

Well lets get this straight from the outset….your body can not breakdown and burn fat from one particular area – no matter what adverts, products and society tells you! It is impossible.

Your body will burn fat from all over, once you start making changes in your lifestyle habits.

I will give you my top 3 tips to help you on your way to reducing your body fat and making your waist narrower.

REDUCE SUGARS & SATURATED FATS: These are two things which are present in lots of the modern foods on the supermarket shelves. Your body will function perfectly fine all day with small amounts of both. Your saturated fat intake should be no more than 20 grams a day for women, 30 grams for men. But do not eliminate it completely as it does some important jobs in our bodies.

Sugar is found in many products we have in our cupboards. These are the types of sugar to avoid, ones found in cakes sweets and processed food. Yes, we do need sugar in our diets as it provides energy for the body to function. The body can get all the sugar/energy you need from fruits and veggies, as well as complex sources of carbohydrate (rice/sweet potatoes/whole grains).

So, no need to add any more sugar in anywhere else in you diet, clean un-processed foods is key.

REGULER EXERCISE: This again is a key point, its very hard to get the changes you want from diet changes alone. So aim to increase your activity level to 5 x a week this could be as simple as brisk walking, a structure workout in the gym, swimming or a studio class. Also be sure to take a rest day or 2 each week, so your body can recovery and you can re-fuel.

TRAIN YOUR LEGS: By training your legs with resistance exercise (lunges,squats,leg press machine) you will recruit lots of big musclegroups in the lower body, resulting in  more energy being use (calories burnt). While working those legs you will also build lean tissue/muscle. This new muscle is one of the ways we can speed up your metabolism. This will mean you will burn more calories/fat while at rest.

Hopefully these changes will get you closer to your goals.

Thanks for the image

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=901